Barely 157cm tall, weighing 45kg and in his 87th year, the iron in him is his unbreakable spirit.

It has so far carried him to the finish of 16 full Ironman races, including six in its ancestral home of Hawaii.

He has also crossed the Sahara Desert, aged 75, but these are just the headline acts of a late-life career tackling mind-numbing challenges – and it’s not over yet.

Last month, he took part in the Asia Pacific Masters in South Korea and in October he will line up for the Langkawi 70.3 (Half-Ironman).

For non-ferrous readers, a full Ironman comprises a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a marathon (42km), all within 17 hours.

Hawaii may be a Polynesian paradise for some but triathletes have to cope with crashing Pacific breakers, scorching lava fields and fearsome crosswinds.

A tall order for a man who’d only ever swum in the pool at his condo, and ran and cycled around the lake in Subang Ria park.

And didn’t get serious until he was 50.

Advised by a doctor to lose weight, he admits: “I was a typical couch potato, but I got a shock when told I probably wouldn’t live beyond my 60s.

“When a palmist told me I’d be dead by 67, it was like a panic alarm. I was already 48.”

How life started again at 50

A self-made businessman, he said: “I had put wealth before health, so I took to the gym and started jogging. Gradually, my stubborn beer belly disappeared.

“As I looked more like my former, slimmer self, I began to feel life was starting again at 50.”

Once he had completed the PJ Half-Marathon in 1987, he was hooked and made his full marathon debut in Kuala Lumpur two years later.

In his autobiography, “The Bumble Bee in Me”, he wrote: “I was becoming addicted to this new, healthier lifestyle, caught in its grip and constantly looking for new sporting challenges to put myself through.”

He discovered one at Port Dickson. “I saw a banner for the PD International Triathlon,” he says, “so I went into the yacht club to find out what it was all about.

“The 10km run was no problem. I thought I could handle the 1.5km swim even though I’d never done more than 10 laps of a 25m pool.

“But I hadn’t ridden a bike for nearly 30 years!

“I borrowed a 12-year-old Raleigh bike, fell off it twice and was called everything from ‘Ah Pek’ (elderly Chinese uncle) to ‘Mutant Ninja Turtle’ – due to my over-sized shell-like helmet.

“But I finished and got a prize for coming second in my age group. Triathlon was in its infancy in Malaysia so although I was no big fish, at my age, I was in a very small pool.”

Now it was no longer just about keeping fit and living longer: he had fallen in love with this fledgling sport.

The Hawaii Ironman is the Everest for every triathlete. And Yee set his sights on it “after seeing ordinary-looking folk taking part.”

‘Ordinary’ is a label that will never be attached to this indefatigable octogenarian who has now been inducted into the Ironman Malaysia Hall of Fame.

He’s a joker with a penchant for wry self-deprecation.

If his times are slow, his story is nothing less than an epic of perseverance: in overcoming age, physique, pain and mishaps.

Born in poverty, one of 13 children, he says: “I think I inherited my mother’s genes.

“There were 15 of us at the table and she only ate scraps after the kids had finished. She was an Iron Lady before they invented the Ironman.”

Increasing his training to 300 laps of the pool and competing regularly to build up for his supreme challenge, he needed all Ah Ma’s strength and determination.

At the start in Hawaii, he surveyed the 1500 competitors, many hunks and statues among them, and said: “I felt like a dwarf among giants.”

At every low point, he remembered Ah Ma, his upbringing, and “thinking of even harder times always lifted me.”

Sixteen hours and 37 minutes later, he crossed the finish line to be officially declared “an Ironman” – with just 22 minutes to the cut-off to spare.

And at the age of 58 – just 10 years after his ‘death sentence’.

As family and friends congratulated him, they begged him to quit and take up golf. But Yee was just getting started.

He managed to clip an hour off his time in Hawaii; came first in his age group in the Malaysian Ironman of 2000 and completed no less than 41 half-Ironman events around the world.

For variety and to raise money for P3KU Special Kids in Malaysia, he took on the 248km Marathon des Sables (Marathon of Sands) in Morocco.

After six days of hell in the Sahara, he was removed by officials just 29km from the finish.

“I couldn’t make the cut off time but was proud of what I achieved – and the money I raised. The Malaysian team had collected RM200,000 for Special Kids.”

Just an average small-sized Cina Ah Pek

The mishaps came in later years, two of the worst near his home.

A faulty drain cover caused his bike to flip, cracking his helmet and led to a loss of hearing and neck pain until now.

And then he was knocked over by a car and is still suffering the effects. The driver, a Japanese woman, admitted blame, offered to pay all costs but left the country.

Those knocks and a bout of internal bleeding a year ago looked as if they’d finally defeated him.

But the word is not in his vocabulary and, when invited to the Asia Pacific Masters in Jeongbuk, South Korea in May, he gladly accepted.

But the adventure began before he left home. The organisers didn’t believe my age so asked for a photo, then for his passport.

He said: “The first event was the 100m and I thought it would be peanuts after all my marathons.

“But I didn’t take my physio’s advice to warm up and learned a painful lesson: at 50m I cramped up, stopped and staggered to the finish. I never did find out my time – it was slow enough to have been mistaken for the 800m.

“The pain was still killing me when the 1500m started in the afternoon. I was so slow, I now know what it feels like to be lapped twice in a four-lap race by a 65-year-old.

“But I got a big cheer – people like an old man who doesn’t quit.”

Next for him is the Langkawi 70.3 race (formerly Half-Ironman) where he’s confident he can do the distance if not beat the cut-off times.

But Korea was far from a waste of time. Besides learning a valuable lesson, he got the idea for another book ‘From Couch Potato to Ironman.’

“It came when filling the application,” he explained. “They asked competitors for their CV and I wrote so much I didn’t have enough space on the form.

“Then I realised I have so much advice to give about not giving up and making the most of life. So I’m putting it in another book.”

But he’s not getting carried away. Summing up his career, he said: “For an average small-sized Cina Ah Pek with zero sporting background, I am doing okay.”